When you need a bounty hunter, you go to some backwater dive bar, one with knives quivering in wooden tables and conspicuously bullet-sized holes in the mirror behind the bar.

But if you’re Justin Sun, the billionaire founder of TRON, or Binance’s Changpeng Zhao, the go-to destination is online.

And a new rewards system may be changing the game for the most unseemly hands in crypto: hackers.

Espresso Shots

☕️ Lawmakers Urge SEC to Hurry Up ⏩

On Wednesday, September 27, lawmakers will sit down with the SEC’s Gary Gensler to ask him what’s taking so long for a verdict on the wave of Bitcoin ETFs.

We don’t predict the future, but four U.S. Representatives, including Mike Flood, Tom Emmer, Richie Torres, and Wiley Nickel penned a letter on Tuesday criticizing the SEC for discrimination against spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.

“Market participants have relied on your statements and have filed applications for a regulated spot Bitcoin ETP,” the letter reads. “Following the Court of Appeals’ decision, there is no reason to continue to deny such applications under inconsistent and discriminatory standards.”

The letter finishes with “To that end, we urge you to approve the listing of spot-bitcoin ETPs immediately.”

And those four Representatives all sit on the House Financial Services Committee, which Gensler is scheduled to appear before at the next oversight. It’s fairly reasonable to assume that the frozen ETF applications will come up.

Though Gensler is a known runner, having completed nine marathons and one 50-mile ultramarathon, it’s high time that he picked up the pace.

☕️ Switzerland Crypto Compliance 🪙

The financial institution and market marker, Keyrock, has joined crypto firm Bitcoin Suisse and crypto custodian Bitgo in its compliance with the anti-money-laundering standards set forth by the Swiss Financial Services Standards Association (VQF).

“Securing the VQF membership reinforces Keyrock’s stance on upholding rigorous regulatory standards within the crypto space,” said KeyRock CEO and Co-founder Kevin de Patoul said in a statement. “Our focus remains steadfast on ensuring both compliance and trust in our services.”

The VQF is one of Switzerland’s oldest financial institutions, but its attitude toward crypto is thoroughly modern.

The clear, regulatory compliance afforded to these firms may be setting Switzerland on track to become the next great crypto hub.

But there’s no word yet on how the Swiss government intends to regulate the nation’s delicious little chocolate coins.

☕️ Bitboy Arrested 🚓

In the latest installment of the epic tragedy of the crypto influencer Ben Armstrong (also known as “Bitboy”), Armstrong was arrested after a livestream outside of his former business partner’s house.

Armstrong made headlines last month after being kicked from the HIT Network, which owns the “Bitboy” brand, for causing unspecified emotional, physical, and financial damage.

But this development did not prevent Armstrong from recording a 37-minute livestream in front of the house of Carlos Diaz, a crypto investor and consultant that Armstrong claimed had ties to the HIT Network.

Not only did Armstrong claim that Diaz was connected to HIT Network, but he also alleged that Diaz was connected. In the livestream, which has since been taken down, Armstrong claimed that Diaz had mafia ties that caused Armstrong to fear for his life.

Armstrong was arrested and held for eight hours on charges of loitering/prowling and simple assault. Simple assault constitutes causing another person to fear physical harm.

Armstrong’s tale has been both unfortunate and unhinged, but this arrest marks a groundbreaking entry into the YouTube subgenre of middle-aged men ranting in their cars.

Spilling the Beans

Bitcoin Billionaires ❤️ Bounty Hunters 🥷💰

As long as there’s an internet, there are going to be hackers.

Much like how cattle farming gave rise to cattle rustlers, any new industry is going to create a new class of criminals.

But what if hackers didn’t have to be all bad? What if there was a way to appeal to hackers’ better natures and turn hacking into a force for good?

That’s exactly the ethos behind the joint operation between TRON’s Justin Sun and Binance’s Changpeng Zhao.

But how did this collaboration come about?

Well, last Sunday, the exchange HTX, formerly Huobi, was the target of a hack that made away with $8 million worth of Ethereum.

While Justin Sun quickly took to X to assure the public that $8 million is a paltry sum compared to HTX’s roughly $3 billion in net worth, the figure represents roughly two weeks' revenue fo the firm.

After Sun went public with the hack, CZ of Binance was quick to lend a hand, offering Binance’s security team to aid in the investigation.

But the nature of the negotiations with the hacker took a surprising turn.

The inter-exchange collaboration offered the hacker a 5% white-hat hacker reward; approximately $400,000 for the return of the funds.

The message, written in Chinese to the wallet associated with the hack, reportedly read:

“We have confirmed your true identity. Please return funds to 0x18709E89BD403F470088aBDAcEbE86CC60dda12e. If you do not return the funds by the deadline, we will request judicial intervention.”

The hacker was given a seven-day deadline and orders to return at least 95% of the funds.

And lo and behold, hours later, HTX received a transfer of $7,961,841 worth of stolen Ethereum.

The fact that this bid worked may not deter future hacks so much as redefine them.

If you managed to steal $1 billion worth of crypto, you’d have to figure out a way to fence those funds and begin your life as an outlaw.

But if the victim of your hack offered you a hefty sum to return it, you could carry on, guilt-free, with a reward equivalent to several years' salary.

What if, instead of threatening funds and exchanges, hackers could play an important role in crypto’s ecosystem?

A pentester is a hacker who is legally paid to look for bugs or vulnerabilities in a system. Though these opportunities aren’t everywhere, new incentives and communications could turn the tide.

Hackers aren’t looking to ruin exchanges or lives, any more than they want to stop crypto regulation from going forward, they’re just looking for a quick buck.

If the rewards continue to be publicized, such as in the HTX hack, more hackers may be looking for an honest living rather than one last heist.

It may be time for hackers, in the words of countless doomed mafia characters, to finally “go legit.”

Crypto 101

ETP: Now, you may have noticed that in the SEC coverage in our top espresso shot, the Representative referred to Bitcoin ETPs in their letter, not the ETFs we’ve grown accustomed to hearing about.

Exchange-Traded Product or “ETP” is an umbrella term that encompasses all of the assets traded on an exchange. An Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is the most well-known type of ETP.

The Last Sip

The Last Sip: With all this talk of bounty hunters, you may be wondering what happened to America’s most famous mercenary, Dog the Bounty Hunter. Well, he’s no longer performing the “COPS” style takedowns that somehow morph into prayer circles that made him famous. Dog and his wife moved to Marco Island in Southern Florida, where they run an organization that helps abused women. That’s the happiest ending a bounty hunter can dream of, other than a warrior’s death and the assurance of Valhalla.

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

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